The following represents a cross-section of select projects both recent as well as created over the past three decades that thematically explore connections and/or disconnections that we have to one another, to environmental and technological change, to our relationship to nature, the biosphere and beyond. The work incorporates themes arisen from lived experiences during times of change, great promise and trepidation, and often embodies an expressed tension. Conceptually the work can be reactive and physically illustrative in it's utilization of materials and attempts to poetically and visually convey greater intentions. Many projects undertaken continue to build upon former narratives and underlying themes.
Devolving into the Future
Many of these projects extend my contemplation about our relationship to the environment and our footprint on not only the planet but extended earth's lower orbit (LEO). The visual narrative spans from grief to gratitude.
Enigma
Life is full of mysteries, complexities, riddles which can be baffling, puzzling and challenging to understand. The convergence of peoples from all walks of life, lived experiences and backgrounds set the stage for dichotomies. Relocating to downtown Los Angeles in 1990 from a quiet lakeside community in British Columbia provided a greater perspective on the human condition in a world fraught with mixed messages, where hope could be found around any corner pitted against hopelessness. This decades long experience stimulated the creation of work often focused on coexisting disparate tensions. Themes formerly explored involving human to human interface have resurfaced in recent works, particularly involving aspects of conflict in domesticity. As often said: 'the more things change, the more they remain the same',
My personal history as a second generation Canadian led to recent projects referencing cultural identity, assimilation, inclusion and language preservation.
Memento
The following lens-based projects represent a combination of memories and moments that have manifested themselves into digitally-woven jacquard tapestries. From convoluted travel memories that have shifted and reshaped themselves over time to abstracted wabi-sabi moments in my life, this over-arching body of work also references personal introspection as an elder at a time where great societal emphasis is placed on an aging population highlighting memory-related infirmities. Metaphorically, aspects of this work speaks to memory distortion and reconstruction. Reminiscing about the proverbial fish tale involving the one that got away is not only associated with the elderly, but commonly engaged across an ageless spectrum.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
An opportunity to explore the medium of glass at the Pilchuck Glass School led to the creation of a body of work which served to prompt questions about transience - the fragility of the environment, survival and adaptation, extinction and human intervention.
In Search of Eden
Confronting new technologies, balancing trepidation with optimism played a significant role in my work during the 90’s which visually attempted to convey this palpable tension. The work provoked questions about how our relationship to technology would manifest itself. Many of these speculations have been realized as now decades later we grapple with reliance and dependency issues, environmental impact as technology has invisibly infiltrated every aspect of our lives like weeds out of control yet controlling us. This early work pondered upon thwarted human potential replaced in lieu of economic gain facilitated through new production technologies. The garden/nature metaphor was symbolically employed as marketing strategies at the time were already hijacking nature-related language such as cultivating disc farms, growing data-bases with far-reaching roots and spreading branches, verbiage which continues today as we merrily tweet and stream away into an AI future.
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Aspects of earlier work focused on narratives involving the ‘seeking of self through the acquisition of stuff, consumer culture and target marketing. Those obsessions have led to over-consumption becoming a major causation of the climate crisis that today is clogging up landfills and oceans with trash. All is connected as is the past and future. Work in this vein actively continues, as we witness first hand the consequences of human addiction to wanting more in an environmentally fragile and anxious world, driven by human greed.
